Reading the road - All weather driving - Snow and ice

The basic advice for driving in snow and ice is:

• Don't drive at all if you can avoid it
• Be fully prepared before setting out
• Be gentle with all the controls
• Use the highest gears when driving on snow
• Slow down earlier than normal
• Leave bigger safety gaps all around

Perhaps winter presents us with the most obvious weather hazard of all. Despite this, many people have accidents in winter conditions every year.

Get ready for winter by ensuring that both you and your car are fully prepared. Get your car ready by having it serviced at the start of the cold weather and by keeping a winter emergency kit in the boot (boots, warm clothes, shovel, torch, food, extra fuel can, etcetera).

Advanced driving tests might be cancelled if the examiner considers the weather to be too severe. A heavy frost can sometimes be enough to cancel an early morning test.

Although, as an advanced driver, you will be able to cope with poor weather conditions, it is could be considered that you would not be able to demonstrate a full range of skills on test – for example, you might not be able to reach high speeds on dual-carriageways or open roads. With this in mind it might be best to avoid the worst winter months for your test.

You can find detailed winter driving advice on the SmartDriving web site.

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